The Boilers are 10-4, 2-1 and doing it all without the great Zach Edey. Of course, they still have Braden Smith, their best player according to most efficiency metrics. Some media reports might suggest that even 1,000 Varangian guards could not deter Smith, but I am pretty sure he's no match for any Viking.
What is a bit different about this Purdue team of recent years is the absence of a towering 5 to be the focal point of the offense. If Smith is the straw (8.7 assists pg), then F Trey Kauffman-Renn is the drink (18.2 ppg, 12.1 shots pg, 6.1 ft pg). The other ingredient is G Fletcher Loyer (14.4 ppg), who still looks like the dentist from that Christmas cartoon special.
This trio garners over 30 mpg each, while the rest of the minutes are spread among F Camden Heide (21.5 mpg), G Myles Colvin (20.9), G Gicari Harris (16.1), and G CJ Cox (14.4 mpg). The Boilers will rotate a few traditional bigs through with Caleb Furst (13 mpg, 4.5 ppg) and 7'2" 260 lb Will Berg (9.3 mpg, 2.6 ppg), but their offense will mostly run through the perimeter, unlike during the Edey years.
The bad news is that Smith (43%), Renn (43%) and Loyer (49%) all can shoot the 3. The good news for us is that the Boilers don't have nearly the athleticism of Penn State. They won't press the Cats into turnovers or outquick us into hand-check calls that will make us want to gouge our eyes with broadswords. Of course, none of this will matter if the officiating replicates what we saw vs. PSU. If that is the case, even the Varangians won't save us.
